Some emergence of /s/ clusters and velars in conversation.Productions of singleton consonants (not omitting sounds).Appropriate syllableness (including all syllables).Secondary patterns are not targeted until the following criteria have been achieved in spontaneous utterances: Liquids are targeted at the end of each cycle even if they aren’t stimulable (this is the only exception to the stimulability rule): Target /l/ and /r/ (by emphasizing vowel to suppress the /w/ substitution, go for an approximation)Ĭriteria for Moving on to Secondary Targets:.Fronting/Backing (Anterior/Posterior Contrasts): Work on velars if fronting or alveolars/labials if backing./s/ clusters: significantly improves intelligibility.Syllable deletion: make sure each syllable is marked, even if not all sounds are present.If there is a phonological process in the primary set that the child is not yet stimulable for, use a few minutes each session to work on increasing their stimulability of those sounds. For this process, you will help them approximate the /l/ and /r/ if they are not stimulable for those sounds yet. The only exception is gliding, which is targeted with all clients even if they are not stimulable. The goal is to have them practice these targets successfully as many times per cycle as possible. The key is to only include targets (phonological processes) that the child is stimulable for. These are the processes that impact speech intelligibility the most. First, you start with processes that are on Hodson’s “primary set” of targets. Which Phonological Processes to Target First:īarbara Hodson laid out a nice plan for which phonological processes to target first when using the cycles approach. Therapy is continued for each process until it is eliminated from the child’s conversational speech. After all phonological processes are targeted, the cycles start over again and the original process is targeted again. The cycles approach treats children who use a lot of different phonological processes (error patterns) by targeting each process for a short amount of time and then cycling through other phonological processes.įor example, therapy may target final consonant deletion for 2 weeks and then switch to target stopping of fricatives for another 2 weeks. This is considered a phonological process. This is called “final consonant deletion” and is a specific pattern of speech errors. For example, some children delete all consonants off the ends of words. In the cycles approach, therapists treat phonological processes, which are error patterns in children’s speech.

The researchers of this method claim that it improves intelligibility more quickly for highly unintelligible children than other methods. The cycles approach is meant to more closely mirror the natural development of phonology in young children where many processes are developed gradually over time by mastering easiest words first. If you’re not sure whether the cycles approach is right for a child, download my free flow chart that will help guide your decision:Ĭlick Here to Download the Free Flow Chart for Choosing a Therapy Method The Purpose of the Cycles Approach: Don’t use very many different consonant sounds.Frequently leave out or omit speech sounds.Highly unintelligible (very difficult to understand).The cycles approach to speech therapy is intended for children who meet the following criteria:

Phonological processes chart